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THE CALIFORNIA QUESTION AND THE ORDINANCE OF '87. 



SPEECH 



HON. D, P. KING, OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MAY 21, 1850, 

In Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, on the President's Message trans- 
mitting the Constitution of California. 



Mr. KiNGsaid: 

Mr. Chairman: I am not certain that I should 
now congratulate myself that I have been recog- 
nized by you, although, with many other members 
of more agility, I have been for some days prac- 
tising the athletic exercise of jumping for the 
floor. In the uncertainty of obtaining it, I have 
not given myself the caieful preparation befitting 
the attempt to speak on a subject so important. 
I have been a patient listener and a careful reader 
of the speeches which have been made here and 
in the other wing of the Capitol, but I have little 
expectation that I shall be able to add one ray to 
the flood of light, or to contribute a single item to 
the fund of information which has been accumu- 
lated. For me, there is not that excuse so fre- 
quently given for desiring to address the House, 
for 1 have made no speech which I desire to mod- 
ify, I have given no vote which I wish to explain; 
have occupied no position which I have found it 
necessary to fortify or define, and I have taken no 
step which 1 wish to retrace. Nor do I attempt 
to awaken the echoes of this hall, that their 
reverberations may be heard in far off* Massa- 
chusetts. I have surveyed my district, from its 
Atlantic shores to its western limits, and from the 
metropolis of the State to its northern borders, 
but can find no such town, hamlet, or precinct, as 
Buncombe. I have a most charitable, confiding, 
and generous constituency, who burden me with 
no instructions, and vex me with no remonstrances. 
They know that I mean faithfully to watch their 
interests, and fearlessly and honestly to make my 
record. They know that I opposed the unconsti- 
tutional admission of Texas; that I voted against 
the wicked Mexican war; and that I have declared 
on this floor my determination, that by no act of 
mine shall one foot of slave territory be added to 
this country. They expect from me a straight- 
forward, consistent course. In the conviction that 
words are but the puny children of earth, and 
firm, resolute, determined action, the full-grown 
sons of heaven, I have not thought it necessary 
to waste precious time in idle discussion and fruit- 
less argument. My commission is not to exas- 
perate, not to agitate, not to labor to round a period 
or polish a sentence against slavery, but to act for 
libercy. 

But gentlemen, pluming themselves on their 
honor and independence, have asked us of the 
North whether we intend to adopt the recommend- 
ations of tiie several Senators who have thrown 
the strong light of their wisdom and experience 
on the doubtful path through this perplexed laby- 



rinth. They ask, whose leading we will follow. 
To me it appears that these gentlemen little un- 
derstand the position of a free Representative of 
a free people. Under the wise provisions of our 
Constitution, the President is independent of Con- 
gress; each branch of Congress is independent of 
the other, and each member of Congress has his 
individual independence. On a question involv- 
ing the rights of the people, the rights of the 
States and of the Territories, and the prosperity 
and the destinies of the country for all time, the free 
northern Representative will follow no leader, ac- 
knowledge no master, submit to no dictator. In 
my judgment, this is not a question of expediency, 
but of right; not a matter of fancy, or of choice, 
but of stern duty; not a shadowy abstraction, 
but a thing of body and soul and spirit. In 
our deference to superior wisdom, and respect 
for long experience, we must not forget our own 
responsibility. Our own conscience, though it 
be but a taper-light, to ua steady and constant 
must be the lamp that guides our feet. " The 
discrust of our own powers will be no excuse for 
the neglect of our duties." We cannot disobey 
the promptings of our own deliberate judgment 
and the convictions of our own understanding. 
I speak but for myself. In all matters of gen- 
eral policy, I fetl my need of the counsels of 
wisdom; but in a matter of principle and of con- 
science, as no one can share with me the respon- 
sibility, and suffer for me the penalties of a crime, 
I can and will permit no one to direct my course. 
I trust I have a becoming respect for the intellect- 
ual powers of our great men — and the age has 
been prolific in such — but if I were to acknowl- 
edge that I had no respect for my own judgment, 
I should thereby confess that I had no fitness for 
the station my constituents have assigned me. I 
cannot surrender their rights — i will not surrender 
my own. It may not be modest — it is painful — 
to differ from those who have long been trusted 
and who have led public opinion: Amicus Catoni, 
sed magis libertati, sed maxime verttati. The Latin 
may not come mended from my tongue, but to 
me the sentiment is full of meaning and of force. 

In times of yore, in a day of venality, one hon- 
est man could promise himself that he would hold 
fast his integrity while meal remained at a shil- 
ling a peck. 1 think I know one man, now that 
bread is three pence per pound, and pure invig- 
orating water may be had free as it wells up from 
the fountain, who, neither from dread of abuse, 
nor fear of opprobrium, will smother his senti- 
ments or sacrifice his independence. 






73892 



Sterne once said, that if heaven should rain 
mitres, none could fall which would fit his head. 
My head will fit no office, and I have no desire to 
retain or gain any, which requires the surrender 
of my judgment, or the violation of my convictions 
of duty. 

Gentlemen ask us, for the sake of peace, union, 
and harmony, to surrender our prejudices, to for- 
get party and section, " to despise the sickly sen- 
timentality and the wild fanaticism of the men 
and women of the North," and just for this once 
to be magnanimous, and adopt their compromise. 
And what is a'compromise? It means an adjust- 
ment by mutual concessions. What does the 
North gain by the proposed compromise ?— rather, 
what that is good, and just, and honorable, does 
she not surrender? It is not compromise, but all 
concession. The South has heretofore asked 
much, and received rfluch. It has been in the 
habit of demanding, and the North has not had f 
the firmness to deny. The Romans had not been j 
-wolves if their neighbors had not been sheep, the 
South would not have been so exacting if the j 
North had not encouraged them by too great fa- i 
cility — by a disposition too generous and accom- ; 
modating. 

A far greater proportion of the area of our 
country is now slave territory. Have we not 
rights too? Shall we not insist that the newly- ! 
acquired territory shall be open to free labor ? 1 
Cannot we profit by your lesson, and say that 
the equilibrium must be restored ? Teach the 
North ! — thanks for that word. But now a little 
too much is demanded; the easy, confiding North j 
is alarmed. Louisiana, Florida, and Texas, have | 
been acquired, and you have made them all your j 
own — they are devoted to slavery. California, New l 
Mexico, and Utah, are yet unshackled; they must 
be sacred to freedom; they stretch out their hands 
to us, and beg that we will not bind the unwilling 
victims, nor drag them up to the altar of unholy sac 
rifice. They have spoken out in their agony, and 
we cannot disregard their cry to come over and help 
them. In the convention for framing the consti- 
tution of the State of California, composed prin- 
cipally of gentleman who had been residents in 
slaveholding States, an article prohibiting slavery 
was unanimously adopted. From the debates in 
that convention 1 make the following extracts: 

Mr. Stewart. "Coming from a slaveholding State, I 
know the baneful influence of slavery upon free labor. 1 
know it is utterly impossible to unite free and slave labor. 
I have tried the experiment, and I feel justified in raying 
that such a thing is impracticable. Let us declare to those 
gentlemen who are about engaging in this enterprise at 
home that ihey cannot bring their negroes here on any con- 
dition nr under any pretence whatever." 

Mr. Skmple. " I maintain that we owe it to ourselves, 
and our fellow-citizens at home, to show iheni in this con- 
stitution that their slaves are not wanted here ; that they 
cannot be introduced into tins country ; that it is ihe deter- 
mination of the people to exclude them. In God's name, 
let us make California a place where free white men can 
live. But bring negro labor in competition With them, and 
you will soon see the disastrous re.-ulis. You degrade 
white labor; you place the intelligent and enterprising citi- 
zen under the control of monopolists; you deprive Inm of 
all that encourages 10 industry and makes labor piofitable. 
Let us keep our institutions pure ; let our progress be on- 
ward." 

Mr. Clay, in a speech delivered in the Senate 
on the 13th instant, says: 

" With respect to the population of California, with re- 
spect to the limits of California, with respect to the cir- 
cumstances under which she pieten'.a hcretlf to Cougress 



for admission as a State into the Union, all are favorable to 
granting her what she solicits, and we can find neither in 
the one nor in the other a sufficient motive to reject her.antt 
to throw her back into the state of lawless conrusion and di^ 
order from which she has emerged." 

I go for the admission of California, not for the 
sake of her golden sands, but for the sake of the 
right — a treasure more valuable than all thegold and 
silver and precious stones of which avarice in her 
wildest vagaries has ever dreamed. I shall vote for 
the admission of California, with its constitution 
prohibiting slavery, without qualification, without 
restriction, without limitation, and without delay. 
I will not inquire what laws the hand of the Crea- 
tor has stamped on the territory of California, 
New Mexico, and Utah. Some of the old Puritans 
believed that '^greater light is yet to break forth:'' 
with them I am content to adopt the laws of God. 
until such time as by His providence and under 
His progressive light, laws can be framed better 
adapted to the good of His creature*. In the whole 
of that country, whether it be broken up into rug- 
ged and inaccessible mountains, or spread out in 
desert sands; whether capped with eternal snow, 
or vital in green fields and fertile valleys, — as far as 
my influence and my vote can go, that soil shall be 
free soil, and the men and the women, whatever 
complexion an Indian or an African sun may have 
burned upon them, shall tread that soil erect and 
unshackled, and as free as the flight of " the bird 
of broad and rapid wing, whose home is high in 
heaven." 

Gentlemen say slavery cannot exist in the new 
territories. Why, then, object to its exclusion by 
law ? It is said the proviso is an idle abstraction, 
opposed on the part of the South from a motive of 
pride, insisted on by the North as a matter of sen- 
timent. We assure you that we do not wish to 
offend your too nice sense of honor; you as readily 
assure us that you can pity, if not respect and for- 
give our sentimentality. It is not a point of honor 
or of sentiment, but a matter of substance and 
moment — we contend not for the triumph, but for 
the right. When the people shall, in the power of 
their might, declare that there shall be no more 
slave territory, they will have extinguished that 
insatiable lust of acquisition which now covets 
Cuba for a tobacco patch, Mexico and Central. 
America for a potato field, South America for a 
pasture for war steeds, the Sandwich Islands for a 
flower garden, the Antarctic regions for an ice cel- 
lar, St. Helena for a cemetery, and the rest of the 
world for a hunting-ground. 

We hear much about the compromises of the 
Constitution, and the intent and meaning of the 
Convention which framed, and of the people who 
adopted it. To me it appears evident that their 
object was " to establish justice and secure the 
blessings of liberty to themselves and their pos- 
terity." They restricted the slave trade to the 
year 1808; they excluded slavery from all territory 
then within their control; they did not suffer the 
fair parchment on which their Constitution was 
written to be blotted with the name of slavery; 
and it might have been with them a probable con- 
jecture and a cherished hope, that in this age men 
must refer to learned books of synonyms for the 
definition of the word slavery, and to musty and 
forgotten tomes of history for an idea of its char- 
acter and condition. 

There has been much unnecessary disputation 



3 



about ihe authorship of the celebrated proviso by 
which slavery is excluded from the territory north- 
west of the Ohio. I say unnecessary, because 
fortunately the facts are so readily and satisfacto- 
rily obtained from authentic history. On the 1st 
of March, 1784, Virginia ceded to the United 
States all her right to that territory. What were 
her rights I will not stop to consider. New York, 
Connecticut, and Massachusetts, claimed parts of 
the same territory, and Virginia was careful not 
to give a deed of warranty. It all came under the 
undisputed sovereignty and possession of the 
United States; and to provide for its government, 
Mr. Jefferson, in behalf of a committee consisting 
of himself, Mr. Howell of Rhode Island, and Mr. 
Chase of Maryland, reported to Congress certain 
resolutions, and among them — 

•'That at'ipi tlir year 1800 oftlir Christian e;a, there shall 
be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the 
said States, otherwise tlian in the punishment of crimes 
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted to have 
been personally guilty." 

Of the twenty -three delegates who were in at- 
tendance, sixteen voted for and seven against the 
resolution; but it was not adopted, because the 
Articles of Confederation required the assent of a 
majority of all the Slates. The resolutions re- 
ported by Mr. Jefferson, with this exception, be- 
came, April 23, 1784, the law of the land. In 
1785, Mr. Rufus Kilig, a delegate from Massa- 
chusetts, proposed the following resolution: 

"That there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary serv- 
itude in any of the States described in the resolves orCon- 
gress of the 93il April, 1784, otherwise than in the punish- 
nient of crimes whereof the party shall have been person- 
ally guilty; and that this regulation shall be an article of 
compact, and remain a fundamental principle of the thirteen 
original States, and each of the States described in the said 
resolve ofthe '23d April, 1784." 

This resolution was referred to a committee by 
the affirmative votes of New Hampshire, Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland; Vir- 
ginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Geor- 
gia, voting in the negative. 

There seems to have been no further action on 
this subject till July 11th, 1787, when a commit- 
tee, consisting of Colonel Carrington, of Virginia, 
Mr. Dane, of Massachusetts, Mr. R. H. Lee, of 
Virginia, Mr. Kean, of South Carolina, and Mr. 
Smith, of New York, reported an entire set of 
resolutions for the government of the Northwest 
Territory. Pioneers from the east had discovered 
how propitious were the soil and climate of that 
fertile region, and were desirous of finding there 
an abiding place for themselves and their posterity: 
and Congress felt that more particular and specific 
laws had become necessary for the teeming West. 
Colonel Carrington was a soldier, skilled in 
marshaling a phalanx and drawing out a regiment; 
Mr. Dane was a practised lawyer and a learned 
civilian, fit to draw a code for an empire: on 
him devolved the duty of preparing the ordinance; 
but Colonel Carrington, as chairman, formally re- 
ported the first five sections. To Nathan Dane, 
and to him alone, belongs the honor of drafting 
and proposing as an amendment the section which 
provides that " there shall be neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude in said territory, otherwise 
than in the punishment of crimes whereof the 
party shall have been duly convicted." In hon- 
esty and truth, I must add the following: 
"Provid&latvxty), That any person esca. in? into the same, 



from whom labor or service is lawfully < laimed in any one 
of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully re- 
claimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her 
labor or service, as aforesaid." 

This ordinance was adopted by the concurrent 
votes of all the States and all the delegates with 
the single exception of Mr. Yates, of New York; 
and thus was slavery immediately and forever 
excluded from that redeemed and favored land. 

Mr. Jefferson was then in France, as Minister at 
the Court St. Dennis, and could have had no agen- 
cy in procuring the passage of the. ordinance, al- 
though it is true, that in 1784 he supported a pro- 
viso prohibiting slavery in the territory after the 
year 1800, the other two delegates from Virginia . 
voting against it. ■ 

Massachusetts was represented in the Congress 
of 1787 by two members only, Nathan Dane, of 
Beverly, and Samuel Holten, of Danvers. I have 
had the honor and satisfaction to know both these 
men; they lived to a good old age in my own dis- 
trict, and their honored dust now sleeps beneath 
its green sod. I will not say that it is, in party 
parlance, " free soil," but it is, in the widest 
sense, freedom's soil; and the representative from 
that district, who is not true to liberty, misrepre- 
sents his people, is forgetful of the whole history 
of the past, and madly reckless of the future; he 
might expect the execrations of the living in his 
daily walks, and the reproaches of the honest 
ghosts of his patriot predecessors would haunt 
his troubled dreams. Such apparitions murder 
no innocent sleep. This treason shall not sit hea- 
vy on my conscience. 

I do not say that Nathan Dane was the first to 

conceive the idea of the exclusion of slavery; but 

I do say that he was the first to apply the inven- 

| tion to practical use, and a court of justice would 

, award to him letters patent — but he did not want, 

and we do not intend, to restrict the use of his in- 

| vention — we would apply it to all territory now 

i free, as he and his compatriots meant the principle 

[ should be applied to all States and all Territories 

, thereafter to be admitted into the Union. 

1 claim for Nathan Dane the paternity of the 
\ proviso, and for Massachusetts, a consistent and 
I uniform opposition to the extension of slavery. 
With us u is no new light, no sudden furor, no 
; sickly fanaticism, but a deep, nettled, firm convic- 
i tion, and a principle not to be impaired or eradi- 
! cated. The voice of the people proclaims it, and 
the resolves of their legislature iterate and reiterate 
i it in tones of Jeep and unmistakable solemnity.* 



''Rtsolves concerning Slavery. 

Whereas, The people of Massachusetts, acting under ;i 

solemn sense of duty, have' deliberately and repeatedly 

avowed their purpose to resist the exteiition of slavery into 

the national territories or the admission of new slave States 

I iuiothe Union, and, for these ends, to apply, in every practi- 

: cable mode, the principles of the ordinance of 17*7 ; also to 

sf eli the abolition nf slavery and the slave trade in the District 

; ol Columbia, and the Withdrawal of the power and influence 

I of the General Government from the support Of slavery, so 

! far as the same may be constitutionally done ; and whereas 

the important questions now before the country, make it 

I; desirable that these convictions should be r< affirmed, there- 

I fore, 

Resolved, That the people of Massachusetts earnestly in- 
sist upon the application by Congress of the ordinance of 
| 1787, with all possible sanctions ami solemnities of law, to 
' the territorial possessions of the Union in all parts of the 
Continent, and lot all coming time. 

Resolved, That the people of Massacl u etts cherish the 
Union with unabated attachment ; that the) will support th e 



Gentlemen from the South have told us that they 
know this sentiment of opposition to the extension 
of slavery prevails; and it is true, it is the voice 
of the pulpit, of the press, of the halls of legisla- 
tion, and of the popular assembly, and the repre- 
sentatives of the people have no choice, I trust 
they have no wish, but to obey the voice of the 
people, which in this instance, at least, is the 
voice of a Divinity. 

And this is now public opinion in Massachu- 
setts. Who made this public opinio. 1? Not the 
so-called " miserable, despised fanatics," surely, 
but the men whose remarks the people take for wis- 
dom, whose statements are demonstration, whose as- 
sertions are like the response of an ancient oracle; 
these "words fitly spoken" have been to uslike "ap- 
ples of gold set in pictures of silver;" they are writ- 
ten down in our books, taught to our children, deep 
rooted in our memory; they cannot be eradicated. 
We have been taught to believe and feel, that 
slavery must not be extended; the sentiment can- 
not be checked, hardly controlled; it rolls down 
our mountain sides, it flows over our plains, it 
pervades our cities — but it brings no madness nor 
desolation in its path; our men are resolute men, 
they will maintain their rights; they are honest 
men, they will yield to others their rights. 

And, Mr. Chairman, this abhorence of slavery 
is no new sentiment with the people and legisla- I 
ture of Massachusetts. They were the first to ! 
abolish slavery by practical emancipation, by the i 
decision of their courts, and by statute enactments. | 
"Dr. Belknap, in his account of the decrease of slavery in : 

< Massachusetts, says : ' At the beginning of our controversy 
i with Great Britain, scveial persons, who before had enter- 
■ taiii'i! sentiments opposed to the slavery of the blacks, did 
' thvn take occasion puhliely to remonstrate against the 
• inconsistency of contending* for our own liberty, and at 

< Lite same time depriving other people of theirs.' " 

With singular inconsistency, it is charged upon 
Massachusetts by several gentlemen, that her hos- 
tility to slavery commenced when it ceased to be 
profitable, and in the same hour it is declared that 
we are warring against our true interests, because 

Constitution ; that, appreciating the inestimable benefits 
flowing from it, they believe it better for all parties and sec- 
tions, with reference to any existing evils, to wait and work 
patiently under and through the Constitution, than to de- 
stroy il ; and they have no doubt that they hold these senti- 
ments in common with overwhelming majorities of the peo- 
ple of these United States; but, iri any event, they will 
follow their principles, deterred by no threats of disunion, 
and no fear of consequences. 

Resolved, That the integrity and permanence of American 
power on the Pacific ocean, the increase of our commerce 
and wealth, the extension of our institutions, and the cause 
of human freedom on this Continent, require the immediate 
admission of California into this Union, with her present jj 
without reference to any other question, or || 
measure, whatever. 

Resolied, That the sentiments of the people of Massachu- , 
setts, as expressed in their legal enactments, in relation to !j 
, the delivering op of fugitive slaves, remains unchanged ; and fl 
inasmuch as the legislation necessary to give effect to the 
clau e of the Constitution relative to this subject is within 
the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress, we hold it to be the j 
duty of that body to pass such laws only, in regard thereto, j 
as will be sustained by the public sentiment of the free jj 
States, where such laws are to be enforced, and which shall jj 
especially secure to all persons whose surrender may be l. 
claimed as having escaped from labor and service in other j 
States, the right of having the validity of such claim <leter- 
mined by a jury in the State where such claim is made. 

Resolved, That the people ofMassa husetts in the main- 
tenance of these their w< -ll-knownnnd invincible principles, 
except that all tin ir officers And fepi sentatives will adhere 
to them at all times, on all occasions, and under all circum- 
stances. 

Approved May 2, 1810. 



slave labor and slave products contribute so largely 
to our wealth. Gentlemen, be a little charitable, 
if you cannot afford to be just. In calling us in 
the same breath knaves and fools, do not you for- 
get your self-respect? 

But, to obtain justice to Massachusetts and her 
old policy, I must take an appeal from the excited 
and angry passions of our fellow-citizens of the 
South, to the sober judgment of a foreigner, Gra- 
hame, who, in his History of the United States, 
says: 

"Among other subjects of dispute with the British Gov- 
ernment and its officers, was one more creditabje to Mas- 
sachusetts than even tier magnanimous concern for the 
liberty of her citizens and their fellow colonists. Negro 
slavery still subsisted in every one of the American prov- 
inces; and the unhappy victims of this yoke were rapidly 
multiplied by the progressive extension of the slave trade. 
* * * But the recent discussions with regard to liberty 
and the rights of human nature were calculated to awaken- 
in generous minds a juster impression of negro slavery;, 
and during the latter part of Governor Bernard's adminis- 
tration, a bill prohibitory of all ttaffic in negroes was passed 
by the Massachusetts Assembly. Bernard, however, in con- 
formity with his instructions from the Crown, refused to af- 
firm this law ; and thus opposed himself to the virtue as well 
as to the liherty of the people whom he governed. On three 
subsequent occasions laws abolishing the slave trade were 
passed by the same Assemblyduring Hutchinson's adminis- 
tration ; but all were in like manner negatived by the gov- 
ernor. And yet it was at this very period, when Britain 
permitted her merchants annually to make slaves of more 
than fifty thousand men, and refused to permit her colonists 
to decline a participation in this injustice, that her orators, 
poets, and statesmen loudly celebrated the generosity of 
English virtue in suffering no slaves to exist on English 
ground, and the transcendent equity of her judicial tribunals 
in liberating one negro who had been carried there. Though 
Massachusetts was thus prevented from anolishingthe slave 
trade, the relative discussions that took place were by no 
means unproductive of good. A great amelioration became 
visible in the condition of all the negroes in the province;; 
and most of the proprietors save liberty to their slaves. This 
just action — for such, and such only, it deserves to be 
termed — has obtained hitherto scarcely any notice from 
mankind : while the subsequent and similar conduct of the 
Quakers in Pennsylvania has been celebiated with warm 
and general encomium. So capricious is the distribution 
of fame: and so much advantage does the reputation of 
virtue derive from alliance with sectarian spirit and in- 
terest." 

It was such laws passed by the Massachusetts 
Lezislature and vetoed by George III., that Mr. 
Jefferson referred to in his original draft of the 
Declaration of Independence. 

" He has waged cruel war ag.iinst human nature itself, 
violating the most sacred rights of life and liberty in the per- 
sons of a distant people who never offended him, captiva- 
ting and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere; 
or to incur a "miserable death in their transportation thither. 
This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers,is 
the warfare of the christian king of Great Britain. Deter- 
mined to keep open a market where men should be bought 
and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing 
every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execra- 
ble commerce." 

South Carolina and Georgia did not concur in 
this sentiment, and it was omitted in the Declara- 
tion; but the inconsistency of holding in bondage 
creatures of a common Father, made in his image, 
after all men had been solemnly declared free and 
equal, was felt and acknowledged. Thissentence, 
however, stands in the Declaration, in spite of a 
too delicate sensibility: " He has refused hist assent 
to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the 
public good." 

I forbear to speak of the efforts of Rufus King, 
another bright star of Massachusetts, to secure 
the blessing of libfrty and free government for 
the West, and leave to the gentleman from the 
Empire State, or the gentleman from New Jer- 



sey, the grateful duty of commemorating the ser- 
yi«e of a much-honored father. I know that the 
work can be better performed by either of them, 
and 1 trust no feeling of too nice delicacy will 
deter them from doing justice to a subject so inter- 
esting. 

Sir, I will not be so presumptuous as to sup- 
pose that any poor words of mine can add to the 
fame of Nathan Dane; it needs no empty flourish. 
Even if Webster, in tones of surpassing beauty, 
power, and eloquence, had not made his name 
the running-title of the brightest pages in the 
classics of our country and of the age, the virtues, 
labors, and wisdom, of Dane would have inscribed 
themselves on imperishable tablets.* Nuthan 
Dane died childless, but generations who have 
enjoyed and shall enjoy the fruits of his wisdom 
and benevolence will cherish his fame and bless 
his memory. He was the author of the Abridg- 
ment of the American Laws, and he founded the 
Law College in Cambridge University, of which 
Joseph Story was the first professor. At one 
time, students were congregated at that school 
from every State in the Union. I hope the lessons 
there learned in statute law, common law, the law 
of nations, and especially the law of humanity, 
will never be forgotten. He was a munificent 
benefactor to that College; but his greatest and 
best gift was the Dane proviso, by which a well- 
regulated government was given to the North- 
western Territory. May no man who has en 
joyed any of his benefactions, law, literature, 
liberty, ever say 

" Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes," 

In former times and in modern times a grateful 
people have raised statues and built monuments 
in honor of public benefactors. I will not invite 
the men of the West to sculpture marble or pile 
masonry to the memory of Nathan Dane. The 
prosperity, the wealth, the intelligence, the free 
institutions of that happy land, are raising that 
monument. It has reached almost to its com- 
pletion. It remains for the Representatives of 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, 
and Iowa, to place the cap-stone with due so- 
lemnities; and Whigs, Democrats, and Free- 
Soilers, by one united effort for freedom, you can 
raise that stone and crown yourselves with wreaths 
of unfading honor, and gild Dane's monument 
with imperishable glory. 

I have not alluded to the more recent dispute 
about the modern application of the Dane proviso. 
I care not so much whether it be called the Win- 
throp, the Wilmot, or the BrinkerhofF; whether 
the thunder comes from the right hand or from 
the left, it is an omen of good; nay, it is an abso- 
lute good if it dispels noxious vapors, and clears 
the air so that men, all men, may breathe freer. 
No matter who is the cloud-compeller — whether 
Whig, Democrat, or Free-Soiler — he shall be wel- 
come, and have my support in all reasonable and 
honest means for securing the liberties'and main- 
taining the prosperity of the country. 

Gentlemen of the South complain of outrages 
and aggressions on the part of the North ; " but the 
great and primary cause of complaint," in the 
words of a renowned southerner, a star which has 
now left its sphere, " is to be found in the fact that 
the equilibrium between the t^o sections in the 



* See Webster's speech or^Foor*- resolution. 



Government, as it stood when the Constitution 
was ratified, and the Government put in action, 
has been destroyed." You demand that equality 
should be restored and maintained. As well might 
you ask that the laws of nature should be suspend- 
ed; as well might you demand of us that a parch- 
ing sun shall not dry up your rivulets, and wither 
the verdure of your fields. Our fair tree of liberty, 
planted by rivers of living water, and nourished 
by the influences of heaven, strikes deeper its 
roots, and spreads wider its branches. It is 
clothed with those leaves which are for the heal- 
ing of the nations. Spare that tree ! It must not 
be lopped nor mutilated. If the pride of your for- 
est is torn by a tornado, or scathed by lightning, 
our tree must not therefore be shorn of its fair pro- 
portions. With us, persons, as well. as property, 
are protected by law; and honest, contented, happy 
labor everywhere looks up and smiles, with the 
sure prospect of an adequate reward. For this 
reason, in spite of a sterile soil, and a climate al- 
most inhospitable, our population increases, and 
with it come a moderate competency and general 
comfort. It is not the result of any national legis- 
lation; for you admit that for fifty, out of sixty 
years, the South has controlled the country. You 
have imposed embargoes and other restrictions on 
commerce; you have made and repealed tariffs; 
and you have created and destroyed banks, as 
suited your wisdom or your caprice; and we have 
prospered, although the truth compels me to say 
that labor is now greatly depressed, almost pros- 
trated, under the operation of your last, great ex- 
periment. 

The provision of the Constitution, which deter- 
mines the apportionments .Representatives and 
direct taxes was a financial arrangement. It. may , 
be true that some of the States would not have^ 
consented to come into the Union unless such con- 
sideration was given to their property, but at that 
time a heavy national debt was to be provided for, 
and the Treasury was bankrupt; with the advafi- ' 
tage to the South of her three-fifths representation 
came the almost certain burden of constant taxes. 
And it may be seriously questioned whether we 
of the North have not a right to insist that taxa- 
tion and representation, so long severed, shall now 
be coupled, and that legislation shall be so modi- 
fied in regard to new Territories and new States 
hereafter to be admitted. In reference to their 
slave representation, it is no compromise but a con- 
cession; it is giving them representation without 
taxation, a boon without an equivalent. The 
South contend for the right of carrying their prop- 
erty (persons held to labor) into the newly-acquired 
territories, but it does not follow that the right of - 
representation should accompany that property. 
The original agreement must stand, hard as it 
bears upon us; but I see no necessity and no justice . 
in extending it to other parties. 

At the time of the adoption of the Constitution, 
slavery was considered " the curse of Heaven on 
the States where it prevailed" — it was supposed 
that the number of slaves was diminishing, and 
it was confidently hoped that the anomaly of a 
people of equal rights being controlled by an aris- 
tocracy of property would soon cease. Would it 
be a new " outrage and aggression" on the part of 
the North, if they should respectfully ask, that in 
the admission of new States the representation in 
this House should be determined by their respect 



<5 



ive numbers of free citizens? and that whenever 
a direct tax shall he apportioned among the States, 
and paid by said States, then, as taxation and 
representation are to go together by the provision 
of the Constitution, their respective numbers may 
be determined by adding to the whole number of 
free persons, including those bound to service for a 
term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, 
three-fifths of all other persons? It is a matter 
well worth the consideration of our friends who 
think that the Constitution needs amendment, and 
the Government requires a new equipoise. 

I abhor sectional jealousy and strife; may ruin 
seize on every combination for disunion — " con- 
fusion on its banners wait." But in order to 
maintain domestic tranquillity and preserve the 
Union, the forbearance, compromise, and conces- 
sion must be mutual. All the provisions of the 
Constitution must be respected; our citizens must 
be as free in southern ports as yours are in north- 
ern. Give us an equilibrium, and let it be firmly 
based on truth, and right, and justice. Then will 
our country become the abode of lasting peace and 
the admiration of the nations. 

s. The people are too brave to be conquered by 
any foreign foe. Only themselves can destroy 
their liberties. Our country is so strong, the 
Union so well balanced and guarded, that no vio- 
lence and nor heat but that of internal fires can 
make an explosion that shall scatter it into frag- 

•*ments; woe to the hand that strikes the spark or 
fans the flame. 

' , If the Constitution and the Government had 
been always rightly understood and administered, 
we should not now be annoyed with the din of 
civil strife, nor threatened with disunion. If the 
principles and the wise maxims of the fathers had 
been maintained, no question would have heen 

a started at this day and on this floor whether the 
Government be a despotism, an aristocracy, or a j 
democracy. I have admired the nice distinction of 
Dr. Kirkland in his life of Fisher Ames: 

• ; A Republic is that structure of an elective government 
in which the Administration necessarily prescribes to them- i 
selves the general good as the object of all their measures : 
a Democracy is that in which the present popular passions, 
independent ofthe public good, become a guide' to the rulers. | 
In the tir.-t, the reason and interests of the society govern : ' 
in the second their prejudices and passioss. Then it is that 
men, not laws, govern. Then Hie government is a despot- 
ism beyond rule, not a Republic confined to rule. It is strong, j 
but its strength is of a terrible sort, — strong to oppress, nol 
to protect: not strong to maintain liberty, property, and right, 
it cannot secure justice, nor make innocence safe." 

Of Mr. Ames, Dr. Kirkland says: "Fortu- 
' nately for him, he did not need the regrets of 
■ folly to make him wise, nor the remorse of guilt 
' to make him virtuous." How fortunate would 
it have been for our country, if the admission of 
Texas and the Mexican war had not made it suffer 
the bitter experience of the regrets of folly and the 
remorse of guilt — the serpent would not have 
^empted us with this apple of discord. 

The President, I think, desires to administer 
the Government, in its simplest republican form. 
He is charged by the eloquent Representative of 
one ofthe districts in Virginia, which has resolved 
that it will not be represented in the Southern Con- 
vention, with interference and usurpation in the 
formation of a State government by the people of 
California. He thinks Congress ought at once to 
remand California to her rightful position of ter- 



ritorial dependence. He asks, " is it to be tolerated 

' lhat, under this name of non-intervcniion, there 

'should be the most effectual intervention against 

'lie South? That while slaveholders, with their 

: ' property, had been kept out, and an ad verse decis- 

' ion was inevitable, the people should have been 

' invited and encouraged to establish an organic law 

' of perpetual exclusion , and stamp it on vast regions 

'of uninhabited space; and that such process is to 

j ' be repeated as often as necessary for our perpetual 

l| 'disfranchisement? Sir, it is a gross outrage on the 

[ 'South. The whole policy, its recommendations 

j ' and defences, should be scorned and repudiated by 

j ' every slaveholding State." 

! Mr. T. B. King, the agent of the Government, 
i says: " 1 declare all assertions and insinuations 
■ ' that I was secretly instructed to, or that I did in 
! ' any way attempt to influence the people of Cali- 
: ' fornia to exclude slavery from their territory, to 
' be without foundation." He is himself a resi- 
I dent of a slaveholding State, and represents the 
' convention to have been composed of eleven mem- 
bers originally from the free States, and twenty-six 
from slaveholding States and places south of the 
j Missouri compromise — how fitting agents and con- 
spirators were these for a southern President to 
employ to subvert southern rights and southern 
; interests! The eloquent Virginian says, "butfor 
{'General Taylor I have respect and kindness; I do 
i ' not in fact hold him responsible for the action and 
' policy of that message. He is, 1 believe, an 
' honest, brave old soldier — Iris desire to give peace 
i ' to an agitated country and to allay alarming sec- 
j ' tional animosities, have been made subservient 
' to a policy of insidious disfranchisement and ex- 
' elusion of the people of the slaveholding States." 
! And he then makes a pathetic appeal to the old 
; soldier as a native of that State, the mother of he- 
j roes and statesmen, and as a citizen of the South, 
" not to trample on the rights of her sons — to re- 
' buke the mad fanaticism and grasping power of 
j 'the North, and illustrate his administration with 
| ' a glory that, through the vista of time will be 
' surpassed only by that of Washington." 

Srr, if the crisis must come, we may rejoice that 
a man, too, has come fit to meet the crisis. We 
have now a President who knows no North, no 
South; who is satisfied that the people and their 
representatives shall make the laws, atrd who 
means himself to execute them. We have a Presi- 
dent nee corrumpere, nee corrumpi, who cannot be 
bought and who will not sell; who cannot be en- 
ticed by flattery, nor forced by violence from his 
firm purpose to support the Constitution, to pre- 
serve the Union, to maintain peace at home and 
peace abroad. 

Let General Taylor remain true to himself and 
consistent with his established noble character — 
let hint be faithful to the people and to the whole 
country, and he will secure a blessing that will 
outlive " the rapture of the strife of the earth- 
quake voice" of victory — a boon that will survive 
all civil and all military glory — that consciousness 
of right which will support and cheer him in the 
trials of this world, and lend him the strong wings 
of Hope in his passage to a higher and better 
sphere. The eyes and the hopes of the people 
are upon him; may Heaven make him its instru- 
ment for good to the country, to humanity, to the 
world. 



Extract from vol. ix. of Dane's Digest of American '' 
Law. 

" As alter the lapse of forty-three years, some lor the tirst 
time claim the ordinance of July 13th, 1787, as a Virginia 
production, in substance Mr. Jefferson's, it is material to 
compare ■ ilh Ins plan or resolve (not ordinance) of April, 
1784, in oiu. i i<> show how very groundless the assertion of 
Senator Benton -.that the ordinance of 1787 was chiefly 
copied from his plan. To those who make the comparison, 
not a word need be said to refute his assertion, on the 
face of them the difference is so visible and essential. But 
thousands read his speeches, extensively published, where j 
one makes this comparison. It is surprising, at this late 
day, that this claim is made for Virginia, never made by 
herself. 

'• As but few possess the Journals of the old Congress, in 
which Mr. Jefferson's plan of 1784, and the ordinance of ( 
1787, framed by the author, (Nathan Dane,) are recorded, it 
is proper lo point out the material differ* nee between them. 

•• l.-t. The plan of 1784 is contained in two pages and a 
half; the ordinance of 1787 in eight pages. 

"2d. The first page in the plan or resolve of 1784 i.. en- 
tirely omitted in the ordinance of 1767. 

" 3.1. From the remaining page and a hall' of the plan, there | 
appears lo be transferred to the ordinance, in substance, ' 
these provisions, to wit: 1st. The said territory, and the 
States which may be formed therein, shall forever remain a 
part of this confederacy of the United States of America, 
subject to the articles of confederation. 2d. To all the acts 
and ordinances of the Unit< d States in Congress assembled 
conformable thcrtlo. 3d. The inhabitants and settles i n 
the said territory shall be subject to pay their prut of the 
Federal debts, contracted or to be contracted, to be appor- ; 
tioned on them by Congress according to the same rule and 
measure by apportionments thereof as shall be male on 
other St ites. 4th. The legislature of those districts or new , 
States shall never interfere with tl.e primal y disposal of the 
soil by the United States in Congress assembled ; nor with 
any regulation Congress may find necessary for securing the 
title in such soil to the bona fi<le purchasers. 5th. No tax 
shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States. 
6th. In no case shall non-residents be taxed higher than 
residents. 

"And in no case shall non-resident proprietors b'? taxed 
higher than residents." 

" It will be observed that provisions 4, 5, and 6, 
which some now view as oppressive to the West, 
were taken from Mr. Jefferson's plan. Theresidue ' 
of the ordinanceof '87consistsof two descriptions; 
one original, as the provisions to prevent legisla- 
tures enacting laws to impair contracts previously- 
made — to secure to the Indians their rights and 
property — part of the titles to property made more 
purely republican, and more completely divested 
of feudality than any other titles in the Union 
were in July, 1787. The temporory organization 
was new; no part of it was in the plan of '84. '■ 
The other description was selected mainly from j 
the constitution and laws of Massachusetts, as 
any one may see who knows what American law j 
was in '87; as, first: Titles to property, by will, 
by deed, by descent, and by delivery, cited verba- 
tim in the 7th volume of this abridgment, pages 
389-390. Here it may be observed, that title to 
lands once taking root are important, as they are 
usually permanent. In this case they were planted 
in 400,000 square miles of territory, and took root 
as was intended. Second: All the fundamental, 
perpetual articles of compact, except as below; as 
1st, securing forever religious liberty; 2d, the 
essential parts of a bill of rights, declaring that 
religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary 
to good government and the happiness of man- 
kind, schools and the means of education, shall 
forever be encouraged. These selections from 
the code of Massachusetts, as also the titles to 

{)roperty, have created for her an extensive and 
asting influence in the West, and of the most re- i 
publican, liberal, and beneficial kind. 

" The organization providing officers to select or 



make, to decide on and execute law3, being tempo- 
rary, was not deemed an important part of the 
ordinance of '87. Charles Pinckney assisted in 
striking ouf a part of this in 1786. 

" The sixth article of compact — the slave article 
— is imperfectly understood. Its history is: In 1784 
a committee, consisting of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. 
Chase, and Mr. Howell, reported it as a part of 
the plan of 1784. This Congress struck out; 
only two members south of Pennsylvania sup- 
ported it; all north of Maryland present voted to 
preserve it, so as to exclude slavery. It was im- 
perfect; first, as it admitted slavery till the year 
1800; second, it admitted slaveiy in very consid- 
erable paris of the territory forever, as will appear 
I on a critical examination, especially in the parts 
owned for ages by French, Canadian, and other 
; inhabitants, as their property, provided for only 
; in the ordinance of '87. In this ordinance slavery 
j is excluded from its date, and forever from every 
part of the whole " territory of the United States, 
• northwc-' of the river Ohio," over all which the 
ordinance .stablished government. 

" The emended slave article (as in the ordinance 
of '87 was added on the author's motion, as the ' 
journals show) was not reported. 

" In the said 7th volume, published in 1824, full 

5 credit is given to Mr. Jefferson and- Mr. King, 

i on account of their slave article, too limited— 

; amended in July '87, by extendingthe ordinance of 

that date, to the slave article in it, over the whole 

1 territory, and to take effect from that date. In 

1802, the Indian article was made a fundamental 

part of a southern compact. The provision as 

to impairing contracts was afterwards adopted into 

the Constitution of the United States, also into the 

several State constitutions, and after forty years' 

experience, into that of Virginia. 

" In the great Missouri debate, in 1820, &c, one 

southern member, at least, viewed this ordinance 

i as a northern usurpation; especially, as to the six 

articles of compact. Mr. B., in 1830, claims it as 

an honor to Virginia and Mr. Jefferson. Col. 

Carrington, of Virginia, as chairman of the com- 

1 mittee pro forma, reported the ordinance, but 

formed no part of it. Of late years thi3 ordinance 

j has been made a subject of particular importance, 

; as proving the authors of it have afforded essential 

means in promoting the prosperity and rapid 

' growth of the West. It was found in the great 

Missouri debate, the so athern attempt to run it 

\ down would not do. As a western Senator said, 

; in that debate in Congress, it had been the cloud 

| by day and a pillar of fire by night, in settling the 

country. Others, to the same purpose. On this 

and some other discoveries, this northern uau:,.^- 

tion, as Charles Pinckney viewed it, is now claimed 

as a southern production, to prove southern friend- 

■ ship to the West; also to prove even in '87 the 

i East did nothing in building up the West. In this 

point of view, the East will not readily yield its 

just claim in that business — a claim not denied for 

forty years and more. 

" On the whole, if there be any praise or any 

j blame in this ordinance — especially in the titles to 

property, and in the permanent parts, so the most 

important — it belongs to Massachusetts, as one of 

her members formed it, and furnished the matter, 

, with the exceptions following: First, he was as- 

i sisted, in the committee of '86, in the temporary 

[j organization, almost solely by Mr. Charles Pinck- 



8 



ney, who did so little lie felt himself at liberty to 
condemn this ordinance in that debate. Secondly, 
the author took from Mr. Jefferson's resolve of 
'84, in substance, the said six provisions in the 
fourth article of compact as above stated. Thirdly, 
he took the words of the slave article from Mr. 
King's motion, made in 1785, and extended its 
operation, as to time and extent of territory, as is 
above mentioned. As to matter, his invention fur- 
nished the provisions respecting impairing con- 
tracts and the Indian security, and some other 



smaller matters; the residue, no doubt, he selected 
from existing laws, &c. In regard to. the matter 
of this note, it is a portion of American law, prop- 
erly and conveniently placed in this appendix. 
The particular form of this note is in answer to 
many requests iately made, by members of Con- 
gress and others, to be informed respecting the for- 
mation, the detail, and authorship of this ordi- 
nance, which , in forty years, has so often restrained 
insolvent acts, stop-laws, and other improper le- 
gislation impairing contracts." 



Printed at the Congressional Globe Office. 



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